Re: [Leica] long lens tests

[Alan Ball <AlanBall@csi.com>]

Eric Welch wrote:
> Sometimes people can do the analysis of the laboratory performance of
> a lens and yet they couldn't take a decent picture to save their lives.
> What gives them the ability to determine for the rest of us what is going
> to be useful in the field?

Eric,

Testing and photographing are two different lines of activity. I do not
care to know if the test lab personel can shoot a good pic. And I do not
consider good photographers as necessarily being good testers. Testing
is about methodology. It implies the reference to standards, the usage
of sophisticated calibrated hardware and the knowledge required to
analyse various categories of raw data.

That is why I outsource lens and film tests to specialists, whose work I
respect and whose conclusions I take into account when investing very
hardly earned money.

I try to shoot good pics. I'd like to shoot relevant pics. And I
appreciate the value of knowing the performance capabilities of the
hardware i'm using.

That is at least partly why I chose to make my life financially absurd
by opting for Leica. Thank you (or damn you) CdI, Erwin, Colorfoto,
Photodo and all the others...

Alan